India and Pakistan may not agree—at least for now—on joint surveillance of the border in the war against terror but in the war against polio, they are all set to come together. The goal: eradication of polio from the South Asian region by December 2004. Teams from both the countries met in Geneva on January 15 at a polio eradication conference and firmed up the plan. Likely to take off on February 22, the next polio immunisation day and the National Immunisation Day (NID) in India, it envisages: • Holding polio immunisation drives on the same dates. Teams from bothj countries will administer vaccine to children travelling to India or to Pakistan. • A ‘‘joint surveillance structure’’ to monitor cases in border areas. • Exchanging data and conducting ‘‘mop-up’’ exercises if new cases are detected. • Health-check points in border areas, on rail route and various airports on immunisation days. Health Ministry officials said the proposal was moved by the Pak delegation, headed by the country’s Health Minister, and was accepted by the Indian team. The Indian delegation was headed by Secretary of Family Welfare P Hota and included Health Secretaries of four ‘‘problem’’ states of UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. ‘‘Both the countries have accepted the proposal and details for implementation are being worked out,’’ said an official who went to Geneva. At the Geneva conference were six countries where polio cases have been reported from: India, Pakistan, Niger, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Egypt. These countries, along with representatives from WHO, Rotary International, UNICEF and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) signed a joint declaration affirming their pledge to eradicate the polio-virus by the end of December and achieve ‘‘zero prevalence’’ for three consective years.
